anyone have luck jacking up house and putting in a new basement?

our current basement is terrible. it floods during heavy rain and was put in too deep to positive grade. We plan to tile/waterproof the best we can but we are on flat land and can't grade so as a last resort we are looking at having someone jack up the house and tear out the old and put in new. I would love to hear anyone's experiences doing this or if you know of someone who did it how it went. Thanks!

Advertisement

anyone have luck jacking up house and putting in a new basement?

I have seen it done several times and they all seem to appear successful.

I would be cautious that the contractor hired to do this is experineced. Jacking improperly can cause a lot of damage and when excavating or filling, compaction is critical and lack of proper fill and compaction can cause a great deal of future problems and damage.

anyone have luck jacking up house and putting in a new basement?

we're considering several ideas. first we plan to try to cheapest route which is Tim Carter's idea of trenching 2'x2'x6" around the house and laying tile/gravel to route the water away from the house. That should cost less than about $500. I figure try that first if it doesn't work we'll see about other options. Just hate to spend thousands and have it end up flooding again in a few years. Thanks for the inputs everyone! It helps to hear people's opinions/ideas.

anyone have luck jacking up house and putting in a new basement?

If the foundation is sound and not failing it does not make sense to raise the house and rip the existing foundation out and install new.
I have raised five houses in my time and the aveage cost is around 10,000 plus you have to consider the cost of removing and replacing the foundation. It would make more sense to treat the problem from the outside as stated above. BOB